1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to output devices such as printers, and more particularly to font availability in output devices. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for additional font availability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In output devices, such as printers, fonts are typically stored in the read only memory (ROM) within the printer. Some printers, particularly low cost printers, contain only the number of fonts that will be available to a user when the printer is in operation. In other words, only the number of fonts that can be used are stored in the printer. This means a printer may contain a subset of the total number of commercially available fonts. This is generally done in order to keep the cost low.
If a user wants to have access to a greater number of fonts, he or she has two options. First, the user can purchase a printer having a larger amount of ROM with more fonts stored in the ROM. In printers, information about the fonts is stored in RAM. Consequently, a larger amount of RAM also needs to be available in order to use more fonts. Increasing both the amount of RAM and ROM in the printer, however, makes the printer more expensive due to the high cost of memory.
The second option is to purchase a printer with a reduced number of fonts, and then purchase additional RAM plus additional fonts. Increasing the amount of RAM allows the printer to use the additional fonts. Next, the user needs to add the additional fonts to the printer. Increasing the number of fonts the printer can use can be done in several ways.
One way is to purchase a font cartridge. A font cartridge has additional fonts stored in a ROM within the cartridge. This font cartridge is inserted into a cartridge port in the printer. Once the font cartridge and additional RAM are installed, the user has access to the additional fonts.
A second way to increase the number of fonts is to purchase software containing fonts that can be downloaded into RAM The additional RAM needs to be installed before the user downloads the fonts, so that the RAM is large enough to hold the additional fonts.
From a user""s perspective, both options are undesirable because they require the user to pay more to own and operate a printer. The first option of purchasing a printer with an increased amount of RAM and ROM is expensive due to the cost of memory. The second option is more costly for the user because he or she must purchase the additional RAM plus the additional fonts.
Therefore, increasing the number of available fonts in an output device such as a printer in an efficient and cost effective manner is desirable.
Unused space in a storage medium such as a read only memory is used to store additional fonts, thereby increasing the total number of fonts stored in an apparatus. A portion of the fonts stored in the apparatus are made available to a user using traditional methods. If a key is present or has been added to the apparatus, the additional fonts are made available to the user. Examples of a key include software code, a hardware, jumper or a card with a hardware identification or jumper.